Story+1981-07-09+East+Rutherford,+NJ

“I grew up...in this house...where...nobody ever talked to each other...we used to live on the left side...of this little three-room house...there was a front room and a kitchen and two bedrooms and a bathroom upstairs...and...with everybody living that close...it seemed that...nobody ever sat down without being angry...telling each other what was on their minds...I could never talk to my old man, he could never talk to me, my mother couldn’t talk to him...so I was glad when...I finally got old enough...and I started, started to live alone...then…then for about ten years I never saw my folks... my folks that much...and just recently, we came back...from Europe (crowd cheers) if you get a chance, you gotta...you gotta go there because it’s not, you can’t imagine it, it’s not...it’s not what, what you think it is or what you read in the papers...but we got back and my father got...I got a phone call a night or two later that my father had gotten sick...and I went out to California where he lives now, he was in the hospital there...and I started thinking on the way out about all the...about all the things that I always wanted to say to him that I never said and I always figured, well, someday we’ll sit down and we’ll talk about all this stuff, talk about why it was the way it was when I was young and talk about why he felt the way he did but the years go by and it never, it never comes up...I guess it feels like a dangerous subject or something...but he got sick and I realised that he was getting old and he, that...if I had something to say to him...I should say it now and...you know ’cause…family is forever and it’s something that (crowd cheers) it’s something that don’t ever go away, no matter how far you move away from each other or no matter what your feelings are towards each other...it’s just there in your blood all the time, in your blood ...so if you got, if you got folks at home and have been waiting, waiting to say stuff to ‘em, don’t waste too much time...you know, ’cause you’ll always regret it...”
 * 09.07.81 East Rutherford, NJ, intro to “Independence Day”**

“(Bruce begins the harmonica intro and a firecracker explodes in the crowd)…Whoever just threw that firecracker, you can do me a big fucking favor (crowd cheers) you know…and don’t do it, if anybody was around that guy, point him out, and throw his fucking ass out of here (crowd cheers) if you don’t have...you don’t have the respect for yourself, you ought to at least respect the people that are sitting around you (crowd cheers) you, you guys paid your money, you got the right to sit here without worrying about somebody throwing something, hit you on the head and try to blow you up with something...so...so whoever you are, you, you are no friend of mine, do not (?)(crowd cheers) this is a song, that’s... uh...that’s about respect...it’s about having respect for yourself... for the land that you live in...”
 * 09.07.81 East Rutherford, NJ, intro to “This Land Is Your Land”**

“I’m gonna…we got…a friend of mine’s gonna sing a couple of songs with us (crowd cheers)(?)…Mr. Gary U.S Bonds (crowd cheers)…
 * 09.07.81 East Rutherford, NJ, intro to “Jole Blon”**

“This, uh…back in ‘77...we played in Memphis...and...Elvis was still alive...at the time we drove past Graceland...and...I remember after, after I heard he’d died, I was...I used to sit back and wonder how somebody that...that once had won so much...could, could in the end lose as big as he did...and...it seemed like...in life it’s important to have the right friends around you, you know (crowd cheers) people that...that can tell you when you’re screwing up and help you be better...and...I think I was, I was sure that he couldn’t have had many friends like that...this is, uh...this is a song that’s for Elvis (crowd cheers)...”
 * 09.07.81 East Rutherford, NJ, intro to “Johnny Bye Bye”**

“Alright, let’s go ramrodding (crowd cheers)…”
 * 09.07.81 East Rutherford, NJ, intro to “Ramrod”**

“(Clarence: “The night was black and the moon was yellow…and the leaves came tumbling… (…) Now ladies and gentlemen…comes my favorite part of the show …the band introductions (crowd cheers) I wanna begin at the far left with the guy back there (?) he’s sitting behind that big thing that we like to call a piano, I’m talking about the one, the only, the intelligent, the educated, the inimitable, the inevitable Professor Roy Bittan (crowd cheers) Roy, play a little bit (Roy plays) (crowd cheers) that’s only the first (?)…now to my left again...the man in the red shirt…the poet of the soul, master of rock and roll, he brought you such great hits as “I Don’t Wanna Go Home,” “Sweeter than Honey,” “This Time It’s for Real,” “Some Things Just Don’t Change,” “Daddy’s Coming Home,” Miami Steve Van Zandt (crowd cheers) on the bass guitar, all the way from Neptune, New Jersey, Mr. Garry W. Tallent (crowd cheers) back on the drums, ooh, the Mighty One, Mighty Max Weinberg (crowd cheers) to my far right, the unpredictable, the unfathomable, the great, from Flemington, New Jersey, Danny Federici on the organ (crowd cheers) and now (crowd cheers) this is the tough part…’cause words…words have no meaning when I try to describe this next gentleman…let me say we all know he’s the king of the world...he’s the master of the universe ...he’s the emperor of all things...gonna be the next Governor of New Jersey probably (crowd cheers) not a bad idea…Clarence the Governor (?) I like that…so listen, let me just say that he’s faster than a speeding bullet...able to leap tall women, I mean tall buildings in a single bound, it ain’t no bird, it ain’t no plane, give me a C-L-A-R-E-N-C-E, what’s that spell? (crowd: “Clarence”) what’s that spell? (crowd: “Clarence”) what’s that spell? (crowd: “Clarence”) Spotlight on the Big Man…
 * 09.07.81 East Rutherford, NJ, intro to “Rosalita”**

“This is our last night here and (crowd cheers) I just wanna, I wanna, we’ve, we’ve done, we’ve played a lot this year and I just wanna thank you guys for making this really seem like home for us (crowd cheers) ‘cause, ‘cause you’ve been the best and I mean it, thank you (crowd cheers) this is especially for you…”
 * 09.07.81 East Rutherford, NJ, intro to “Jersey Girl”**

//Compiled by : Johanna Pirttijärvi//